


21 - I Don't Feel So Well

by VickeyStar



Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Almost Drowning, Chronic Pain, Hypothermia, Infection, Injured Juliet Higgins, Thomas knows how to survive in water, Whumptober 2020, because yeah he does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:15:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27134419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VickeyStar/pseuds/VickeyStar
Summary: She hates this.Juliet’s entire body is aching, her leg pain getting worse and worse with every minute, and she just knows her body picked the wrong time to step on a rusty nail and get a foot infection, a few days ago.Granted, there isn't really a good time to get a foot infection, in her opinion.Chronic Pain | Hypothermia | Infection
Relationships: Gordon Katsumoto & Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV, Juliet Higgins & Everyone, Juliet Higgins & Gordon Katsumoto, Juliet Higgins & Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV, Theodore "T.C." Calvin & Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV & Orville Wilbur Richard "Rick" Wright
Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946791
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	21 - I Don't Feel So Well

**Author's Note:**

> Rely on random coincidences that likely wouldn't but totally could happen to write a fic with three different injury types? We would *never*  
> (This is a lie. We did exactly that.)   
> Enjoy!   
>  ~ Sleef/Vic

She _hates_ this.

Juliet’s entire body is aching, her leg pain getting worse and worse with every minute, and she just _knows_ her body picked the wrong time to step on a rusty nail and get a foot infection, a few days ago.

Granted, there isn’t really a _good_ time to get a foot infection, in her opinion.

Thomas had dragged her out of the house, foot wrapped in a small cast, bringing her to an old cave by a secluded beach on the island, saying something about a missing pet needing to be found.

He took the proper safety precautions, of course, wrapping her cast with plastic and not straying too far from her side as they had searched in the cave.

What he had forgotten to do, because there’s always that _one thing he forgets to do_ , was check the time that the tide was going to come in.

Now, the two are trapped in the cave, with the entrance roughly twenty feet below them, and Thomas stuck trying to keep the both of their heads above the water.

Juliet’s getting colder and colder, her clothing soaked with a dead phone in her pocket as she tries to float, Thomas’s arm around her waist.

“Okay. I’m going to lead you to a wall, and I need you to hold on while I check out the entrance situation. Okay?” Thomas asks, already pulling some of her weight onto his chest so he can move her toward the wall.

“Do I have much of a choice?” she asks, the cold not doing much to numb the pain radiating up her body from her foot.

And really, because it’s them, now is the time for her chronic pain to start acting up, again, as her shoulder begins to throb from an old wound.

He ignores her comment, well aware that he deserves her snark, being the one who got them into this mess.

“Hey,” he ventures, getting a grip on the wall, “at least we know the dog isn’t here.”

She grabs the same spot he’s holding on to, and he wades away for a moment, checking on her, before diving underwater.

She waits, feeling her breath become slower and shallower.

Her cast is making her leg float up a bit, and her foot feels like it’s separate from her body, wrapped up and radiating pain.

The worst part of all of this is that she _knows_ hypothermia is settling in, and the water isn’t even _cold_.

When Thomas resurfaces, gasping a bit for breath, she’s shivering and just barely keeping hold of the cave wall.

“H-how does it look?” She asks, voice catching a bit as she shakes.

It catches his attention, the PI immediately moving toward her and taking his jacket off in the water.

He gives it to her, maneuvering it around her torso and zipping it up as he speaks.

“It isn’t good. The sea level is higher out there than in here, and I’m not sure we can both make it out. If we stay here, we won’t be any better off.”

She nods.

“Th-the tide won’t go d-down until the morning.”

He swims behind her, pressing their bodies together and taking some of her weight, helping her float as he grabs the wall.

“Think you can make it under?”

She frowns, leaning back.

“M-my cast might drag m-me up.”

She can feel his chest moving against her back, back and forth as they float.

“I’ll bring you down with me. It’s roughly three minutes of holding your breath, think you can manage?”

She takes a shaky breath.

“Do I have a choice?”

A pause.

“Sorry.”

She doesn’t respond, too exhausted to speak much.

“Alright, the water’s gonna burn your eyes, a bit. If you need to keep them closed, go ahead. I’m gonna get you out of here, you just gotta hold on to me, okay, Higgie?”

She nods, eyes already closing as he maneuvers her behind him, pulling one of her arms over his shoulder while the other gets wrapped around his side.

He pulls her arms close together, and she locks her hands together.

“If you run out of air, tap on my chest three times, alright?”

She nods into his back, trying to take deep breaths.

He gives her a moment, them both sucking in as much air as they can, and then they’re underwater.

She was right, she knows as her body immediately flips upside-down, Thomas pushing himself extra hard to pull the both of them down.

Her ears pop multiple times on the way, and she’s focused on holding her breath and keeping her eyes shut.

She doesn’t know how much time passes, only aware of the pain moving from her foot to her shoulder and back as they move through the water, her mind starting to get fuzzy as she waits.

Time passes, because suddenly she’s laying down on a grassy patch of a beach, with Thomas leaning over her.

“-liet, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

He’s cradling her face, checking her pulse with his free hand as he glances around.

It’s late at night, too dark to expect anyone to be wandering by, and he has no choice but to lift her up and run to the Ferrari.

He debates with himself as a distraction, settling her into the passenger seat and wishing that the car had a roof, wondering if she’ll forgive him for the damage the salt water is likely going to do to the seats.

Thomas speeds to the hospital, not slowing when he recognizes Katsumoto’s car behind him, sirens wailing and lights flashing, barely pausing to park the car before moving to get Juliet inside.

“Magnum, what the hell is going on?” Katsumoto asks, having pulled into the hospital parking lot right behind them.

“Got trapped in a cave, Juliet’s hurt, call the others.”

He’s inside before Gordon can respond.

~*~

It’s a five hour wait.

By the time they get any news, the others have arrived with clothing and snacks, camping out in a small corner of the waiting room as Thomas is told to chug a bottle of orange juice.

He’s explained what happened, the others explaining their quick response by revealing that they’d been looking for the pair for hours, before Katsumoto had called.

“We had those dinner plans, and when you didn’t show for the Mets game, we knew something was up,” Rick explains, TC sipping on a coffee as Gordon haggles the front desk for any information on Juliet’s condition.

A nurse comes into the room, looking at a clipboard and calling out to the room.

“Family of Juliet Higgins?”

They all stand up.

She looks confused, which is understandable, and Gordon steps in.

“HPD, she’s a friend. They’re alright, is she okay?”

He shows her his badge, causing her to relax a bit.

“Her foot infection has spread a bit, but it’s easy enough to fight off. She’s hypothermic, but we’re working on that right now, and she’s on heavy pain medication to help with the pain in her shoulder.”

Thomas frowns.

“Shoulder pain?”

The nurse glances at the clipboard in her hands.

“Yeah, her file notes that she has chronic pain, from a service-related injury?”

Thomas’s frown deepens a bit, mind immediately conjuring a thousand memories of her rubbing her shoulder in discomfort in the past.

“Can we see her?” TC asks, stepping forward.

The nurse frowns.

“She’s sleeping at the moment, so you’ll have to be quiet, but I suppose you guys can stay for a bit. Really, Mr. Magnum should be checking himself in, as well.”

His friends glance his way, and he shakes his head dismissively.

He ends up in a bed in the same room as Higgins, IV in his arm and his friends quietly bickering nearby.

Thomas looks toward his partner, seeing a tiny smile tugging her lips, and finally relaxes.

_We’re okay._

edn


End file.
